Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Young MC at the 32nd GRAMMY Awards in 1990
news
GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Young MC Goofily Win The GRAMMY For Best Rap Performance For "Bust A Move" In 1990
In the newest episode of GRAMMY Rewind, watch New Kids on the Block present Young MC with the GRAMMY for Best Rap Performance for "Bust A Move" at the 32nd GRAMMY Awards in 1990
It was a different world in 1990. Few knew who Nirvana were. Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer and Milli Vanilli were on the charts. And, as always, the GRAMMYs reflected the times.
In the 31-year-old clip below, Young MC takes home the Best Rap Performance GRAMMY, at the 32nd GRAMMY Awards in 1990, for his funky and lighthearted hit "Bust a Move," which sampled Bette Midler and featured Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea on bass. Presenting the GRAMMY? No other than one of the original boy bands, New Kids on the Block.
In the newest episode of GRAMMY Rewind, watch Young MC accept the GRAMMY with his trademark humor ("I'm gonna try my best not to drop this!") and humility, as he thanks his family and industry colleagues for remaining in his corner.
Check out the throwback video above and enjoy more episodes of GRAMMY Rewind below.
Remembering Biz Markie: 5 Signature Songs From The Hip-Hop Legend

Photo: Michael Tran/FilmMagic
video
GRAMMY Rewind: Christina Aguilera Celebrates Her Latin Heritage After Winning Her First Latin GRAMMY In 20 Years
In May 2022, Christina Aguilera made a stunning return to Latin music with ‘Aguilera.’ Six months later, she won her second Latin GRAMMY — and she made sure to thank everyone who was part of the journey.
Last year, pop diva Christina Aguilera returned to her Ecuadorian roots with Aguilera, her first full Spanish-language album since Mi Reflejo (2000). By the end of the year, she snagged multiple awards for the LP, including Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 2022 Latin GRAMMY Awards.
In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit the moment Aguilera took the stage to accept her gramophone for her self-titled project.
"This is so important to me, and it's been amazing to come back to this home," Aguilera shared before expressing gratitude to her collaborators and longtime supporters.
"The fans, the Fighters, thank you so much!" She squealed. "We've been on this journey for so long, so I couldn't thank you more."
It was quite an eventful night for Aguilera. She received seven nominations in total — including Album Of The Year and Record and Song Of The Year for "Pa Mis Muchachas" — and delivered a show-stopping performance of "Cuando Me Dé la Gana" with Christian Nodal.
Press play on the video above to watch Christina Aguilera's complete acceptance speech for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 2022 Latin GRAMMYs, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.
10 Incredible Moments From The 2023 Latin GRAMMYs: Rosalía, Shakira, Peso Pluma & More

Photo: Courtesy of the Latin Recording Academy
video
GRAMMY Rewind: Marco Antonio Solís Offers Encouragement For Aspiring Musicians During His Person Of The Year Acceptance Speech
Mexican hitmaker Marco Antonio Solís motivated young musicians to stay positive and trust the Creator during his Person Of The Year acceptance speech at the 2022 Latin GRAMMYs.
After nearly 50 years in the industry, legendary Mexican musician and producer Marco Antonio Solís has established himself as one of the most iconic Latin artists in history – from spearheading one of the bestselling grupero bands, Los Bukis, to creating his own roster of solo hits.
As Manuel Abud, the CEO of the Latin Recording Academy, said of Solís in April 2022, "He continues to break down generational barriers through his poignant lyrics … and inspire greater acceptance and understanding." And seven months later, the icon was honored with the Person Of The Year award at the 2022 Latin GRAMMYs.
"My heart is filled with gratitude," Solís said in Spanish during his acceptance speech. "Gratitude is the heart's memory. I am grateful to everyone who is watching us out there on the television. To all those who have supported me in my career over so many years."
Before leaving the stage, Solís gave an uplifting message to aspiring musicians: "To all those who are dreaming of being here some day, a big hug and never lose courage, and above all, faith in our most loved Creator. You will be here some day. Thank you."
The 2023 Latin GRAMMYs will be held Thursday, Nov. 16, at the Conference and Exhibition Centre (FIBES) in Sevilla, Spain, the first-ever international show in Latin GRAMMY history. Tune in on Univision at 8 p.m. ET/PT (7 p.m. CT).
Press play on the video above to hear Marco Antonio Solís's complete acceptance speech for Person Of The Year at the 2022 Latin GRAMMYs, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

photo: Getty Images
news
GRAMMY Rewind: Chance The Rapper Thanks SoundCloud For "Holding It Down" After Winning Best Rap Album In 2017
As one of the most prolific independent musicians, Chance the Rapper couldn't help but thank streaming and distribution platform SoundCloud after 'Coloring Book' won a GRAMMY.
The 2017 GRAMMYs were certainly a life-changing evening for Chance the Rapper. The hip-hop star walked into the ceremony with a whopping seven nominations and took home three golden gramophones, including Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance for his single "No Problem," featuring Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz.
In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit the moment Chance the Rapper took home his third win of the evening for Best Rap Album for his mixtape Coloring Book.
"I didn't think that we were going to get this one, so I don't have cool stuff to say this time," he quipped as he hit the stage alongside his former manager Pat Corcoran and music director Peter CottonTale.
Chance began by expressing his appreciation to God "for everything He's ever accomplished for me" before showing love for his family and friends.
"This is for every indie artist — everybody who's been doing this mixtape stuff for a long a— time," the rapper exclaimed. "Shout-out to Soundcloud for holding it down. It's another one, baby!"
Press play on the video above to watch Chance the Rapper's gracious speech for Best Rap Album at the 2017 GRAMMY Awards, and check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind.

Photo: Prolifickid
interview
Westside Gunn On How Virgil Abloh & "Coming To The End" Of His Rap Career Inspired 'And Then You Pray For Me'
A self-proclaimed "super-vet" of the rap world, Westside Gunn knows his time as a rapper is nearing its finale — but first, he wants to "give you a journey" with his new album, 'And Then You Pray For Me.'
When Westside Gunn refers to himself as "the king of the underground," it's not hyperbole. The veteran rapper has spent the last decade-plus providing hip-hop with a streetwise, neo-boom-bap style that echoes heavily in the music of today. And as the founder of independent hip-hop label Griselda (and its related rap collective), Gunn's influence is felt through stars like his brother, Conway the Machine, his cousin, Benny the Butcher, and the enigmatic Mach-Hommy.
But Gunn considers himself more a curator than a musician. He is obsessed with fashion and high art, more prone to mention going to see opera or buying a painting than jumping into a rhyme cipher.
All of Westside Gunn's obsessions come together on his new album And Then You Pray For Me. The rapper is positioning the project as a sequel to his 2020 LP Pray For Paris, which was inspired by Gunn attending a Paris Fashion Week runway show as a guest of the late Virgil Abloh. Abloh was the art director for both albums, which feature figures from iconic artworks laden with Gunn's signature chains; And Then You Pray For Me uses both the Mona Lisa and Caravaggio's The Entombment of Christ.
While the 21-track album features plenty of Gunn's trademark neo-boom-bap sounds, he updates things a bit by including some songs that have a trap music influence. It contains stellar guest turns from old friends like Conway, Benny, Stove God Cooks, Rome Streetz, and Boldy James. But there are also surprising appearances from artists you might not normally associate with Griselda — Jeezy, Rick Ross, Denzel Curry, and Ty Dolla $ign.
Gunn has recently referred to And Then You Pray For Me as his last album, but don't expect him to slow down. He's making movies, planning big moves in the fashion world, and continuing to guide the careers of other artists.
GRAMMY.com caught up with Gunn as he was, naturally, shopping in New York City's SoHo neighborhood ("I'm over here on Mercer [Street], so it's Lanvin, Balenciaga, Marni, Bape — it's all right here," he boasts). We discussed his creative pairing with Abloh, why he's really a curator at heart, and his views on underground rap's evolution over the past decade.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Not to start on a super serious note, but as I was preparing for this conversation, I realized that we just passed the 17-year anniversary of the murder of your cousin, rapper Machine Gun Blak. If he could see you now, and if he could hear the new album, what do you think he might say?
First of all, he'd be all on [the album]. But he'd be super proud, man. Even when he's not here, he's one of my biggest fans, I feel like. His energy is Westside Gunn. Westside Gunn is a perfect example of Machine Gun Blak — just the raw, the grittiness. The grimy part of Westside Gunn, that's Machine Gun Blak. That's his spirit.
But I think he would love this album. It's a great piece of work. It's my favorite that I ever worked on. Out of all my projects ever, this is the most fun I ever had making one.
Does it feel like it's been 17 years since he died?
Nah. It doesn't seem like 17 years, honestly. And it's crazy because I just went to his grave site. I remember [the day he died] like it was yesterday. I vividly remember that day — what was going on, what I was doing, where I was going, everything.
Where were you when you found out?
See, back in those days, that's when we were still in the streets. So I was just about to go make a move. I was talking to him on the phone, and I was like, "I'll hit you when I get over to Atlanta." Because at that time, I was making moves. That's before all of this. It's the things I rap about now. When you hear the lyrics, these are those days.
He called me, and it was a situation. He was talking about it, and I was like, "Sorry to cut you off, but I gotta go handle this. When I get there, I'll hit you back so we can finish talking about it."
At that time I was still catching the Greyhound from Alabama to Atlanta. But it was crazy because I missed the bus, and I never miss the bus. So I was on my way back to the house in Alabama, and my grandma called me.
This era of your career, which this album is a cap to, began in 2012 when you realized you had to step up and be an artist because Conway The Machine had gotten shot and you weren't sure he'd be able to rap anymore. I've always been curious about your state of mind at that moment.
Even then I was still in-the-streets Gunn. We was working so hard, man. I was acting as his manager and investing my bread, my time. I really wanted Conway to be the biggest artist in the world. Unfortunately, when he got shot, it was a devastating blow.
Of course, that's my brother. That's the number one thing. And it was also like, the streets is crazy. I thought, I'm a smart guy. If I just put in my effort, I could really make this happen. At that time, I was really in the streets, and I felt like the [other] rappers weren't. It was like, you're really rapping about us.
It was that kind of mentality — that if I come in this game, can't nobody touch me, because I'm as real as it comes. I just put my hustle skills from the streets into this, and it all worked out.
During the heyday of that era of Griselda, you guys released a flood of projects — dozens and dozens of mixtapes and albums.
It was a flood. It was the craziest flood since No Limit [Records].
What was a typical day like for you when all that was going on, circa the mid-2010s?
Just being at [producer] Daringer's house. Getting high, eating f—in' Franco's pizza, drinking Loganberry, and Daringer cooking the craziest beats you ever heard in your life. The rest is history. Just having fun, man. Everybody had they hustles. Believe it or not, even Daringer was hustling! We from Buffalo, man.
You've always been someone who understood the importance of branding. Even on early Griselda projects, you'd promote GxFR [Griselda by Fashion Rebels, Gunn's clothing line at the time].
Yeah, because that's the thing: Griselda Records comes from Griselda by Fashion Rebels. I had the clothing brand first. I was already doing a clothing line and it was just like, What am I going to name this record company?
I've always been into fashion. I actually do more fashion-related things than hip-hop-related things. I'm a true designer. I've been designing since I was a kid, and that's the thing that I want to get into more.
I've been rhyming since '12. That's over a decade. If we're looking at NBA years, NFL years, I'm already a super-vet. I'm not trying to be one of them dudes that went from averaging 40 a game to now I'm averaging five, looking crazy and old.
I know when to gracefully bow out. And I know I'm coming to the end. I don't want to keep rapping forever about the same things, because in my life I'm maturing. I'm doing other things. I'm collecting art. I'm going to see operas.
But it's not the end right now. Right now, I just want to give people the best music. And I also want to let people in. I've been doing these [YouTube] episodes for this album where I've been letting people into my life for the first time in my career. Everybody has been loving it.
For the first time, people are actually getting to see the inside of Westside Gunn's life. I think that's one of the things that I lacked on, was letting people in. If I would have let people in a long time ago, I'd be way bigger. But everything is about time, and I'm not tripping.
Before I hang up the mic, I still want to kind of give you a journey with the music. This new project, it's a super different vibe. I've never made an album sound like this. It's the perfect art piece that I could have possibly created.
It's just the space I'm in in life. It comes with maturity — traveling the world, kids getting older, things like that. You can hear the music has matured. It's still raw though. That's the thing about me. I'm still gonna give you that Griselda Westside Gunn. That's never gonna change. I'm not going too far out of context.
For this album, you've introduced the alter ego "Super Flygod." What does that name mean?
Listen, man, Super Flygod right now is talking to you with a ponytail. I'm on another level. Super Flygod is what I've always been, but times 10. I'm super bougie. I love five-star meals. I love five-star hotels. I love wearing $10,000 outfits. I love getting massages. I love smelling good. I love just looking good. That's Super Flygod.
It's just a different energy. It's something the game never seen before. I did the unthinkable at least 100 times already. I'm still doing it.
What was it like for you to see Conductor Williams — a producer who has worked with Gunn and Griselda for many years — land a single on a Drake album?
Beautiful. That's what we do it for. He did exactly what he was supposed to do, and that's be on the No. 1 album in the world. He deserves all of that. That's what we're in this game for — to be able to leave a legacy and take care of our babies. So for him to be on the No. 1 album, that's a super blessing.
That's the thing about Conductor — it's just gonna be the beginning. He's on my new album a few times. So he's gonna have a hell of a month. It's the biggest month of his life. Business is booming for Conductor.
You've used the word "curation" a lot over the course of your career, and especially in regards to this album. What does that word mean to Westside Gunn?
First of all, that's my favorite thing to do on an album. Curation from me is me. I can curate for you, I can curate for MC Hammer. It's you, but it's me.
When I curate a project, that's me naming every song, that's me picking every beat, that's me doing the sequence, that's me making the art cover, that's me doing the merch. You see what I'm saying? It's you, but it's me. All you're doing is showing up and rapping. That's all you gotta do.
Virgil Abloh is credited with art directing this album's cover. What did that mean, specifically?
When I went out to Paris [for Paris Fashion Week in 2020], I really wasn't going to make music. I just felt the energy from Virgil having me out there. When I hit him and told him it was done, it was just like, "There's only one person that can do this cover." It had to be him.
Virgil was an icon. So to have Virgil cooking up for you is already legendary. This don't happen to nobody from Buffalo, man. But when he was cooking, he was making me multiple pieces. At first, the idea was, I'm gonna do a trilogy [of Pray albums]. I was gonna have the Mona Lisa be the picture that represents all three of them together. I was thinking [of a] box set, with a Mona Lisa front and three different covers inside.
Once he passed, it changed what I wanted to do with it. But we were already talking about dropping [a second Pray album]. We were already going to re-release the first shirts we did, and I was going to do new ones. But when [his death] happened, I put everything on a standstill and I didn't really know how I wanted to approach it again.
It was like, Damn, should I do the trilogy, or should I just make it a part two? I had different options. At the end of the day, it was just like, I think I'm just going to finish it up. I really want to give the people the work we created together before I throw in the towel. I felt it was only right. That's something that I want the world to always see and remember — what me and him cooked up together.
You say in your new YouTube documentary series that this new album will probably go over people's heads. What aspects of it do you think people might not get initially, or take a few years to catch up to?
The same reason why they're catching up now to the s— that I was doing five years ago, and everybody acts like it's new. I've always been ahead of my time. Always. I probably get copied off of the most in the industry. But you see that I've always gotten respect from everybody: from the Drakes, from the Tylers, the Rockys, Kendricks, Coles, anybody. I'm a one-of-one. It's never been seen before.
The respect I get, it could be on a mainstream level, but then I could still be on an underground level. I can do something with an Estee Nack, but then turn around and do a song with Mary J. Blige. That's who Westside Gunn is. I got songs with everybody you can possibly think of, rhyming-wise or production-wise. All the legends, even our fallen legends. I can't even think of no other emcee that got a record with Sean Price, Prodigy, DMX, and MF DOOM. It's impossible to name another one.
Westside Gunn is so cultured, people don't even understand. That's what I mean about [being] over people's heads. People still don't even get it. They're scratching their head, like, "How is this guy on [Kanye West's] Donda? How is this guy on [Travis Scott's] Utopia?"
There's a big part of underground rap now that can be traced directly to what Roc Marciano began doing in 2010, and what you guys started doing just a few years later. What do you think when you see a lot of your aesthetic from that time in the current underground scene?
The current underground scene, I'm loving it. Because you gotta think — at that time, like you said, it was only really Roc Marci, Action Bronson — a couple heads. That's in the space that we come from. Of course, we still had the J. Coles and Big Seans and all that, but that was another lane. We're in the same neighborhood, two different streets.
But on our street, people on the block was Roc Marci and Action Bronson. Danny Brown, he lived on the block. People like that. When I came on the scene, that's all it was. But I took the bull by the horns. Like I said, I'm a hustler. I was still hustling in the street. I had a hustler mentality, and once I told myself I had to quit cold turkey, I never looked back. I just went extra hard.
With the new heads, I'm proud of them. At the end of the day, I'm happy that I was able to be somebody that they could study. That they could see these vinyl deals or how this merch is played — I'm kind of like the blueprint. I'm not going to say I'm the king of the underground, but I'm the king of the underground.
Even though I'm the king of the underground, I'm still on Donda. I'm still on Utopia. I'm still making all these big songs and these big records. And even yesterday, we put up the Post Malone clip saying if he could work with anybody, it'd be me.
I'm the one that put the most points on the board, in every way possible. But this is also showing the new heads, If I could work hard, I'm gonna be the next Roc Marci, I'm gonna be the next Action Bronson in that space.
What is the possibility of getting the original Griselda trio of you, your brother and your cousin back together for a project?
That's coming in '24. You don't even you got to ask twice. That's already done, my brother.
A Guide To New York Hip-Hop: Unpacking The Sound Of Rap's Birthplace From The Bronx To Staten Island